Alternate ending to Jailbreak
by mjnousak
Summary: My own alternate ending to Jailbreak (basically headcanon). Steven goes back and manages to save Lapis as well.


"This ship is going down!" Garnet shouted as she entered the bridge.

"What about Lapis?!" Steven shouted back, trying to stabilize himself as the whole ship started shaking mid-descent.

"There's no time!" Garnet said, groaning as she saw Steven running towards her.

"I have to try!" Steven shouted, immediately bolting past Garnet, the three gems following their tiny companion as he ran back as best he could to the cells.

After a few second of precious running, Garnet caught up to Steven, his irregular path making him hard to catch.

"She's this way!" She shouted, using her future vision to quickly spot the best route to Lapis, they'd be able to make it before re-entry, but not by much.

"Thanks Garnet!" Steven shouted as she grabbed him and ran down the corridors, Pearl and Amethyst close behind.

"This is _insane!_." Pearl shouted in protest as they wound through the identical looking corridors.

"Hey, everything Steven's done so far has worked, don't start questioning it now!" Amethyst shouted, barreling down the hallways as well.

They quickly approached Lapis' cell, she looked up in surprise as she saw Steven and they gems looking at her, Steven quickly ramming his body into the anti-gem barrier, making a small hole in it.

"You came back." Lapis said, nothing but awe and surprise in her voice as she watched the yellow lines form on Steven's body as he turned crosseyed.

"OoOoOf cOoOoOoOourSsSeE IIIiiIII DiiIiIidD!" Steven garbled out, giving Lapis a reassuring grin. Or at least the closest thing to grin he could given his brain was currently half frazzled. "EeEeVvVvvvVVveeeEErrrRRYYY OOonNNnnNNneeEE GeEeEeET IiIiInnNnnN!" Steven shouted, Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl diving under the gap he'd made as they felt the ship start re-entry. Steven hopped in as well, taking a deep breath as he reoriented himself.

* * *

Lion ran to the fallen starship, blasting the debris away with his roar to reveal Steven, the Crystal Gems, and Lapis all safely crammed inside Steven's bright pink bubble. Steven dismissed the bubble, taking more deep breaths as he tried to calm his heart.

"Nice one" Garnet said, smiling a she pet Steven's hair.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe you're a fusion all the time!" Steven said, as he realized they were safe, he could finally get that little revelation off his mind. He'd been too focused on his bubble and protecting everyone think of anything else.

"You met Ruby and Sapphire?!" Amethyst shouted in surprise.

"Oh no!" Pearl sounded a bit sad "We were going to introduce you, Garnet your plan." She trailed off, a bit disappointed she hadn't witnessed Steven meeting the pair.

"We were waiting for your birthday." Garnet calmly explained, looking down at Steven.

"We can still do it! I'll just pretend I didn't know!" Steven replied quickly, still wanting to boost everyone's mood.

"Wait… you didn't know she was a fusion?" Lapis asked, shocked the fact Garnet had two gems didn't immediately tip Steven off. All of the gems , including Lapis, laughed a bit at Steven's naievety when they heard a loud groaning and rubble moving.

They turned to see Jasper emerging from the rubble, shakily standing up and falling onto her knees, glaring at the Gems.

"Don't think you've won." You only beat me 'cause you're a fusion. If I had someone to fuse with, you'd be-" She spotted Lapis and grinned wickedly. "Lapis! Fuse with me! We can crush them." Lapis stood up and walked calmly towards Jasper. "They kept you prisoner here! They used you!"

"Lapis?" Steven asked in a concerned tone, giving her a very hurt look that she didn't see.

"That's right, just fuse with me, and we'll take them all down." Jasper held her hand out, only for it to be smacked away by a gigantic hand made of water that had emerged from the ocean beside them. "What the-?!"

"I'm done." Lapis said faintly before looking up at Jasper, anger burning in her blue eyes. The watery arm grabbing Jasper's arms behind her back suddenly, forming shackles around Jasper's wrists. "I am Lpis Lazuli! And I'm done being everyone's prisoner!" She said triumphantly, looking at the waterbound Jasper. "You think you can just bully me around when we're next to an ocean?!" She shouted, her voice rising as Jasper's legs were suddenly also bound by chains, the large gem looking angrier by the second. "Did you think I'd listen to you?!" A large chain grabbed Jasper's torso and arms, binding her upper arms to her side. "You dragged me back to this miserable little planet! After I flew _all the way__** back home**__!_" Another hand grabbed Jasper's legs, binding them together as well, the large, yellow fighter unable to move her body. "Now _you're __**my**_ prisoner!"

"What do you think you're doing you little twerp?! They imprisoned you! Why are you helping them?!" Jasper shouted in desperation, struggling against her watery bindings.

"I'm not helping them! I'm helping Steven!" Lapis retorted, a final shackle rising from the water and shoving itself around Jasper's head, covering her mouth, eyes, and hair, blurring her vision. "He's the only one who's ever helped me! And I'm not going to let you hurt him! If I have to help them in the process, it's better than helping_ you_!"

"Ugh! Agh! Ugh Aaah!" Jasper struggled against her bindings as she felt herself getting dragged into the ocean. Just her head above water after a few moments.

"I hope you DIE DOWN THERE AND _NEVER __**REGENERATE**_!" Lapis shouted, a fury overcoming her she hadn't felt in quite a while as she commanded the chains to drag Jasper down as far as they could go. The gems could only imagine what was happening below the ocean surface to Jasper's body and gem.

"Yikes." Was all Garnet could really think to say. as Steven's phone started ringing, Pearl holding Garnet's arm as Lapis panted in front of them, staring at the water. Amethyst gave Lapis a consoling pat on the back and congratulatory "whoop!" as Steven answered his phone.

Author's notes

Just wanted to get this out of my head. It's my own version of how the episode "Jailbreak" should have ended (in my mind).

I didn't REALLY see why they couldn't run back to Lapis' cell and bubble up with her inside (the bubble's size seems to be changeable, so it's make sense, and they probably had a good few minutes before re-entry and crash. if Garnet could make it to the bridge from the (apparently underground) Power Core so fast, there's no reason they couldn't make it back to Lapis' cell. I can see Steven insisting as he did promise, and our little bundle of joy that is Seteven always tries to keep his word

With Steven defending Lapis from the explosion, it'd win her over to defend him. Jasper would have no pull on Lapis, and even if she tried pointing out the wrongs the Crystal gem's committed against Lapis. Jasper basically bullied her the entire time and threw her in prison, happy to treat her like a criminal as well. Compared to Steven, who not only freed Lapis from her prisons _twice_ now, Jasper's offer looks pretty damn bad.

Lapis still has her water powers, and is at pretty much full capacity now. Remember, she could take down all 3 Crystal Gems when her gem was fractured, and Jasper just got the tar kicked out of her by Garnet. There's no way she could have resisted. The best argument against it would be that Lapis needed the power boost because she was recovering from the ship crashing with her in it, but if Steven got back to her, that's no longer an issue. she's at high power, and next to the ocean. She's pretty much invincible against the beaten and tired Jasper.

That and I admit I DO like the idea of Lapis joining up. She's super powerful and basically invincible near water, given earth is mostly water, she'd be a great asset on missions, and she'd stick around because she knows Home World is "different". While she may not like Earth in the slightest, at least here she has a friend. And Steven's a helluva friend. So he'd try and make her feel as close to at home and as welcome as possible.

I can see why the SU creators didn't want her joining up as her power is ridiculously OP, and would take all the challenge out of fights unless they always stuck to desert areas.


End file.
